"Environmental groups announced Thursday they had reached a settlement with A&G Coal Corporation, a business owned by West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice’s family, over the cleanup of three coal mines in Virginia’s Wise County."
The Daily Yonder The Biden Administration Promises to Clean Up Mine Land and Create Jobs in Appalachia. Here Are Some Steps It Can Take. A new administration brings potential to address Appalachia’s economic and environmental issues on a wider scale.
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A landslide near an abandoned mine site in Perry County, Kentucky. (Photo courtesy Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet)
This story was published in partnership with Southerly.
A century of fossil fuel extraction has left Appalachia environmentally and economically degraded. With the coal industry on its last leg and company bankruptcies piling up, taxes that fund crucial public services are drying up; unemployment and poverty are worsening; abandoned mines are polluting and endangering communities.